New pool woes...

[rooni79]

Hi guys,

I'm an Aussie who has just bought a property and this is my first pool. I grew up swimming in farm dams so this is a bit of a change for me!

My first mistake was to not get the pool equipment checked prior to our purchase.

The pool is salt water and about 30 000L and we are on 30ac and the pool is surrounded by bushland. We are heading into the summer months down here.

The pump and filter are both fine (am running them on a simple timer at the moment), though the controller unit is causing me grief. More often than not it will come up with a "no flow" error and shut down.
The local pool guy says the unit is faulty and has quoted for a new chlorinator etc. This is $1500 we don't have at the moment, and I am wondering if there are any other options available to me?
I work from home and have heaps of spare time, so that isn't an issue, and I am happy to put in effort rather than $$

Any help or advice would be great.

Mark

 

[Bama Rambler]

Welcome to TFP.

What brand and model is the swg?

Most of the time when you get flow errors it's either the actual flow or something wrong with the flow switch.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

If the SWG turns out to not be an easy cheap fix, given that you have heaps of free time, if you are willing to use 5-10 minutes of that time each day on the pool, you could just maintain the proper chlorine levels using liquid chlorine.

Since you are new to pools, likely a good idea to start reading Pool School and these will be good at first:
ABCs of Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals
How to Chlorinate Your Pool

One issue you are going to run into is source a good enough test kit down there. We have a few members down there currently active that seem to find the cheapest way to get a kit to be buying it in the US and having someone shipping it down to you. Rather than ordering a kit from a local company. These are what you want to be looking for: Recommended Test Kits

 

[rooni79]

Welcome to TFP.

What brand and model is the swg?

Most of the time when you get flow errors it's either the actual flow or something wrong with the flow switch.

Wow, you guys rock!
Looks like I have some serious learning to do!

It is a Zodiac the same as this http://zodiac.com.au/products/chlorinat ... -generator

The pump is on at the moment but the pressure isn't what it was this morning. The leaf filter is clear, spray out the big filter?

EDIT: I have emailed a local source about the FT-100 Fingers crossed they have some in stock!

 

[linen]

Welcome to tfp, rooni79

We love having you southern hemi folks on here...keeps it more lively when we have winter in the USA.

What was and is the filter pressure gauge indicating? When you turn the pump off does the gauge go to 0?

 

[rooni79]

Hi Linen,
The pump gauge was indicating 150kpa and dropped to 0 as soon as I shut it down

 

[linen]

Is that the "clean filter" pressure? What were the pressures you mentioned in your previous post?

By the way the test kit is a tf-100 (not ft-100) and is difficult to get in Aussie land. Here are some posts on the subject: http://www.troublefreepool.com/taylor-or-tf100-test-kit-availability-in-australia-t71032.html...and http://www.troublefreepool.com/fas-dpd-kits-shipped-to-australia-t56488.html?hilit=australia

 

[rooni79]

Is that the "clean filter" pressure? What were the pressures you mentioned in your previous post?

By the way the test kit is a tf-100 (not ft-100) and is difficult to get in Aussie land. Here are some posts on the subject: http://www.troublefreepool.com/taylor-or-tf100-test-kit-availability-in-australia-t71032.html...and http://www.troublefreepool.com/fas-dpd-kits-shipped-to-australia-t56488.html?hilit=australia

Those are the "dirty filter" pressure readings.

 

[JamesW]

The pump gauge was indicating 150kpa and dropped to 0 as soon as I shut it down

That's about 22 psi, which is too high for most clean filters. It could be the cause of the no-flow error.

What pump and filter do you have?

 

[rooni79]

ok so the pump is a Pantera by Onga (1.5 hp, 2800 rpm ), and the filter housing "thingo" is a davey easy clear 1500.

I used the hose to spray out the filter, which was choked with a whitish chalky substance. The pump is now sitting on about 115 kpa and water pressure through the jets is greatly improved. Looks like I will clean out the filter every few hours till it gets a little cleaner. Would you recommend a new filter, or wait and see??

I'm overwhelmed with all the help so far, simply amazing!! Free beer at my place if you are ever in the neighbourhood

 

[Bama Rambler]

If your filter is clogging that quickly then you surely have an algae bloom.
What does the water look like?

 

[rooni79]

When we moved in a week ago, the water was a lovely green. The pool guy dosed it with liquid chlorine to kill it. The water isn't green anymore though it is a slightly murky milky colour if that makes sense.

 

[jblizzle]

Likely not everything is dead. Ideally you should follow the SLAM process described in Pool School, but difficult without the FAS-DPD chlorine test.

 

[woodyp]

Even if it is all "dead", it likely hasn't all filtered out. Backwash-circulate--repeat (if necessary).

 

[JamesW]

I'm thinking that once you get the water clear, and have a clean filter, your chlorinator will probably stop giving the low flow error. I think that it's too early to conclude the chlorinator is faulty.

In addition to algae, you might be having issues with calcium scale. If you can provide a full list of chemistry values, we could try to assess to likelihood of scale being a contributing factor to the filter getting clogged.

You might need to clean the filter element with a degreaser and/or descaler if just a hose is not sufficient. You might have to replace the filter element if it is too deteriorated to be useful. Here is a link to filter cleaning instructions

http://www.unicelfilters.com/retailers/ ... _users.asp

 

[rooni79]

I'm thinking that once you get the water clear, and have a clean filter, your chlorinator will probably stop giving the low flow error. I think that it's too early to conclude the chlorinator is faulty.

In addition to algae, you might be having issues with calcium scale. If you can provide a full list of chemistry values, we could try to assess to likelihood of scale being a contributing factor to the filter getting clogged.

You might need to clean the filter element with a degreaser and/or descaler if just a hose is not sufficient. You might have to replace the filter element if it is too deteriorated to be useful. Here is a link to filter cleaning instructions

http://www.unicelfilters.com/retailers/ ... _users.asp

This is exactly what I have been thinking too. I think old mate pool man is too bloody keen to sell me some new components!! I will keep at it and see how we go

 

[AdelaidePooler]

hi rooni79

I'm in Adelaide and embarking on this pool owner voyage of discovery as well.

I've had a test kit mailed from the USA (K2006-C from Amazon.com mailed to family acting as freight forwarders), (still waiting on its arrival, USPS tracking information for "Priority" parcels sucks so I've no idea where it is either) I'm hoping it's got through customs etc. OK and it's just poor tracking, rather than a lost or destroyed parcel!
[Edit: (2hrs later) Tracking info has appeared apparently it's in AUSTRALIA. No more details that that, but at least it's going to make it... I say that, it still has to survive AusPost in Adelaide, which is bl00dy awful!]

For when you do get to SLAMing, Bunning's do Liquid Chlorine.

The Bathurst Bunning's does a 15L swap canister for $10 returnable deposit and $10 a fill (lucky you... I can't get that in SA!) which is only about USD0.22 per US floz, which is pretty good I think judging by the US prices posted on here.... which makes a pleasant change in Australia!

 

[JamesW]

I would also recommend checking the cell for scale or debris.

 

[rooni79]

Hi Steven

Good to know about the Bunnings Chlorine caper mate! Though I hate giving money to those buggers

I ordered the test kit through poolvacparts. Hopefully it won't be too long.

Now a bit of an update....

So I gave the filter a very thorough clean with the hose, and I then soaked it in detergent and napysan for about 4hrs. I gave it another good hose out and reinstalled it. I fired her up and it sat on about 60kpa, which is awesome. I then hooked back up the Zodiac and it is still running without an issue two hrs on!

I may have enjoyed more than one beer this evening after scrubbing and vacuuming the pool

 

[AdelaidePooler]

Yeah Bunnings is a necessary evil for this pool lark, especially if you're trying to keep costs down, they are much cheaper than the pool shops. Pool shops are even less deserving of your cash though! We have BioGuard branded pool stores here and they are hellishly expensive for the basic chemicals (had no idea my first year and it cost me a [s:1rauvmgr]small[/s:1rauvmgr] fortune buying bicarbonate for $25 a kilo!